Blooming Again
by Moon Witch '96
Summary: Rose Tyler dies in Pete's World after a long, valiant fight. But the TARDIS never had wanted this, and she saves her. And now Rose must deal with the throwback of living through it all over again. AU, sometime after Doomsday. Will basically go through series one to beyond. Please Read and Review!
1. Prologue

_**Prologue**_

_ Rose Tyler swore she had died at Bad Wolf Bay. She had never thought, even for a second that the words that had come from the devil's lips had meant something else entirely. She also hadn't thought that the day she died was the day she would be reborn, and that she would see him again. She did however, feel grateful for the truth in the devil's words._


	2. The Wilting Bloom

**The Wilting Flower**

The day Rose Tyler had truly died had started as all her days had since the heart shattering moment in Bad Wolf Bay... Slow and boring as she slammed her fist on the annoying alarm that woke her up every _bloody_ morning. She groaned, softly, wishing nothing more than to chuck the thing out one of the large windows of her bedroom and curl into the soft, warm blankets on her bed for a few more hours. But as the thing blared again, Rose sighed and sat up with an ease, swinging her well toned legs so that she could stand, a movement that was a simply just a quick flex of her legs.

For a second, the motion came with a sense of a head rush, and the young woman knees buckled as she fell back onto the large bed that Pete insisted she had. For a second, all Rose could do was stare at the ceiling, her head spinning and the daily bile rising up in her throat.

The constellations of far off galaxies, the ones she could remember from her adventures in her original universe, stared down at her in the daft glow-in-the-dark stickers. She blinked away the figurative 'stars' that came from her movement, taking deep, slow breathes to calm the intense pain that coursed through her nerves like wildfire. After a few seconds, she gingerly brought herself to rest on her elbows, fighting back the sudden pounding of her head, and the rising feeling of nausea in her stomach.

It was not the first time the action of getting out of bed had caused this sort of reaction. She also wasn't all that surprised when she felt a faint trickle of cold seep onto her upper lip, and she reached for the tissues she had placed underneath her pillow for this very reason, ignoring how the feel of blood made her stomach turn with a stronger force. It was something that occurred daily, so Rose hardly batted an eyelash as she stood and took more even breathes, steadying herself.

She stuffed her nose without ceremony, and walked calmly to her loo, stretching her highly sore muscles with some care, ignoring how pulling them taunt made her wince. It was a necessary pain that she endured, and she was not going to collapse again. That was limited to only once a day after all.

She showered quickly and without lingering, doing the motions of getting herself clean, knowing that she had to get into work. She could have a bubble bath when she came home if she so chose... If she had the energy she thought slightly bitterly as she toweled and then dressed herself in dark, comfortable clothes. When she was twisting her long hair into a ponytail, Rose suddenly caught a glance of her reflection.

She stared at the woman in the mirror, understanding that the being in the mirror _was_ a woman, something she wouldn't have thought just before she met the Doctor. The woman in the mirror looked too young she thought, carefully touching the vibrant purple bags underneath her eyes. Every feature was bright, (if a little on the pale side) and sharp and fresh. The woman in the mirror had hardly changed since that fateful day in which he had told her to run...

But not her eyes she thought. Oh, no, her hazel eyes were old and as tired as the bags beneath them implied. If not older, and sometimes when she stared into her own eyes, Rose swore she could catch a flash of gold. But, every time she checked again, the steady iris did not glow or even hint at her strange past. She did not have a physical change to prove that she had been altered.

But Rose didn't need the golden flash to remind herself of what had happened in the past, for the key to the TARDIS was still around her neck, as it always be. She touched softly, kissing the warm metal as she did everyday. She swore, as the day before, and the day before that, the small key gave off a small spark of warmth as it touched her lips.

She quickly did her makeup, the one remnant from her days as an estate girl that she carried with her. However as she applied the minimalist amount of foundation, Rose knew she had changed in style. Gone was the heavy and glammed up version of Rose Tyler, the person, who admitted to herself now, that had been a chav. In her place was softer, smokier version of Rose, whom had matured and grown to the point that she knew she was pretty enough to pull off the subtler, softer look. With a small wink to herself, and after she had adjusted her black jumper and leather jacket, she left the bathroom semi-pleased with her appearance.

She walked calmly downstairs, ignoring the yapping dog that shared her name as it rushed to nip at her red trainers. Her mother, as always, was in the kitchen, talking excitedly into her headset, and waving at her as she merrily drank tea. Her stomach was ripe and round with child, and she all but glowed with happiness. Rose, despite the pounding and swirling of her head, found herself smiling at the sight of her lovely mother.

She got herself a quick breakfast, feeling the bile rise slightly in her throat as she forced down the simple meal of dry toast and eggs. She tried to ignore the pounding of her head, the subtle burning of her nerves and the racing of her drumming heart within her chest. She was so used to the sensations that she could all but ignore it.

"Rose love, you going in today?"asked her mother after a moment, hanging up the phone with a soft snap of her fingers.

"Yeah mum... Like I do everyday."said Rose, accepting the mug of tea when her mother offered it. She sipped the familiar brew, noting with some amusement that it tasted... Slightly off, as it always did.

Mickey, her mum and herself had always mentioned it to Pete, who laughed it off, that everything in this world felt slightly off, taste wise. Cinnamon was a tad spicier, and kiwis were fairly sour... Just little things mused Rose, carefully taking out her phone and scrolling down as she checked the news. Her mother sighed heavily, eying her nondescript clothing with slight distaste. Rose sincerely hoped she wouldn't start trying to convince her to wear the bright pastel colors of before. She enjoyed what she wore, never mind the fact that her mum claimed it was too much like the first Doctor that they had met.

"I don't know why you insist on doing all those insane things, running after aliens, getting stuck in time loops... I mean, I understand that you miss the adventures you had with..."he mother broke off, looking stricken.

Rose sighed as her mother looked at her as if she would exploded. It was almost comical really, how she looked, her lips pinched and her eyes wide with fright. Almost.

"You can speak about the Doctor you know... It doesn't bother me."she said softly.

What she had said had been a mild lie, for she felt a stab of small pain each time the Doctor was mentioned, even by mistake, as he often was. But not hearing about him at all, and trying to ignore the fact that he existed (as her family was prone to do) made the fact that he wasn't there, nor could ever be, so much more predominate. Her mother looked on at her with pinched lips, as if she had eaten a kiwi or sucked on a lemon from their old universe. She touched her rounded stomach as was her nervous habit, her fingertips caressing her unborn sibling with care.

"Rose, its been nearly a year... I understand that you loved the man, but you have to move on... I worry for you."she said plainly and honestly. Her eyes looked at her hopefully, even with pity, but with a tenderness that no one deny.

Rose felt slight fury enter her at that.

"You never moved on from dad."she said simply, standing up and ignoring the wave of dizziness that took her. Her mother face paled, and Rose knew she had given her mother a low blow.

However, her mother could not, and did not say a word as she stormed out, and that was all Rose wanted.

_**~BW~DW~BW~DW~BW~**_

Rose swore quietly as Mickey fell down next to her, clutching his shoulder as blood dripped between his fingertips. His wounded arm held gun, and his hissed through his teeth as he grinned weakly at her. She quickly took out a small gaze out of the pouch strapped to her hips, and swatted his hand away to wrap up his shoulder.

"You never bring a bleeding gun and you never get hurt."he hissed, giving her a weak glare. When she prodded his shoulder he gave out a low, restrained moan, obviously in pain.

"I'm just too good."she replied, eying the wound to check for poison. Luckily there was none, so she dressed it quickly and efficiently.

Mickey snorted, snatching his gun from the useless hand to his good arm.

"Well Doctor, tell me, will I live?"he asked. He froze as he finished speaking, eyes looking warily at her.

Rose laughed at his expression.

"Well Mickey the Idiot, I say you will."she said, and rocked back on her heels, tilting her head to the side and listening to the ongoing battle. When she heard nothing, she frowned.

Her ear piece suddenly went off soft ring, and she placed her hand to her ear to receive it.

"Gemini to Valiant, Gemini to Valiant, report."said her father's voice and she breathed a sigh of relief.

"Valiant to Gemini. The Mouse is down with an injured shoulder. Permission to engage alien alone?"she asked halfheartedly as she brought her com to her mouth. It wasn't as if she needed permission really, or that she would follow orders that well.

Mickey looked at her with a frown.

"I hate our code names... I get The Mouse while you get bloody Valiant. How fair is that?"he whined childishly, pouting. Rose only gave him a look, her lips twitching upwards.

If anything had survived in her childhood friend's transformation into the competent, militant man across from her, it was the fact that he could still be a big baby.

"Gemini to Valiant, negative on the self-engaged. Don't you dare young lady."came Pete's hissed reply.

Rose gave a snort, and ignored Mickey's gesture to take his side arm. With a wink, and laughing softly as his hissed protest, she took off into the shadows were the alien had run off. She knew he couldn't follow that easily. Her only luck was that the alien was injured, even more so than Mickey, so Rose didn't have to go far. He lay sinking by the sewer water's edge, nearly submerged into the smut filled water, but clinging desperately to the walkway. He stared at her with blind, milky eyes, which blinked in unison. All three were pinned on her approaching form, and Rose tried to ignore the discomfort that his gaze brought.

"This is a level seven planet, barely out of the sixth stage. You do understand that you have violated the Shadow Proclamation?"she said firmly. She ignored the sudden trickle of blood she felt on her upper lip, and the sudden shot of fire in her nerves.

The thing on the water's edge gave a harsh laugh. Curling his tentacles towards her, asking for help. She kneeled in front of him, very ready to give it.

"Oh, the Valiant child knows the words."he said, and Rose felt a chill go down her spine. She said nothing, only reached out both arms in a peaceful gesture, despite the fear that curled in her stomach.

He looked at her with those damn eyes, as if he could look straight through her despite his blindness.

"Lost little wolf, what are you doing here?"he asked, gently in his harsh voice. He wound his tentacles around her outstretched arms in a rapid, sudden gesture, and pulled himself out of the water.

Rose wished to struggle against his hold, but the alien's grip was so weak, and gentle that she didn't dare. Instead she carefully pulled him out, feeling sorrowful as one of his many feelers touched the side of her face. She reached a hand to touch it gently, somehow feeling its life wane. She curled her legs around it, sitting on her backside and allowing it to rest in her crossed legs.

"Saving you."she lied softly.

"Oh, Bad Wolf... Thank you for the kind lie. I must warn you... The battle that you have fought to this day will end now... And you will_ lose_."he said in a kind, rueful voice. He sounded completely heart broken.

Rose felt the sting of tears begin as it stroked her face.

"What do you mean?"she whispered.

He gave a small, raspy chuckle.

"Valiant child of another universe, that who still is the wolf that burns like the sun, I wish you all the luck in the space and time." he said with his last breathe, falling limp in her arms.

Rose could only let a few tears escape before the searing pain over took her. She dropped the alien's body, and felt faintly as her cheek slammed against the concrete of walkway. Over time, the pain in her had made her readily accept it, here in Pete's World. But her high pain tolerance had never prepared her for this. She let out a scream that could shatter glass, and soon even screaming did nothing to relieve the pain that shot through her nerves. It was as if she was both on fire, and freezing, as if frozen lightning was touching on ever single nerve. She felt her throat go raw, but still she couldn't help but scream.

The devil's words haunted her then, and she knew, just as the alien had said, that she would lose the battle that had began the second she had been trapped in Pete's world. The battle that had raged within her body, rejecting the very air of Pete's world, rejecting the very state of being there. Rose felt fear like never before then, as she shook and screamed on the walkway of the sewer, she knew then that she was going to die.

She thought of the Doctor then, and with him the fear faded away as if it had never existed. She thought of his mad ways, of his laughter, of his eyes. Of the dark, warm ones that had looked at her with such agony in Bad Wolf Bay, of the piercing blue ones that had first captured her. She thought of his hand in her's, the cool perfect hand of both versions of her Doctor, and she thought of the way she fallen so utterly and completely in love with him. She loved, loved, her Doctor, and even as she laid dying, here alone in another universe, Rose could not bring herself to regret that fact that being with him had brought her to this point. She stopped screaming, and thought only of him as each wave of agony and fire coursed through her.

She barely registered when Mickey found her, or the garbled words he screamed into his com. She hardly felt it as he lifted her up into his strong arms. She couldn't really see past the haze as she saw the light of the sun. When she saw florescent lights flash overhead, it took her a moment, and looking at the various people dressed in scrubs and masks above her to registered the fact that she was in a hospital. Pete's and Mickey's grief stricken faces were speaking to her, and the words they said were lost, and she could only stare at their mouths as they opened and closed with a disconnected regret.

It was then that she saw it. Through her own haze of pain, she saw the misty figure of gold. For a wild second, her addled mind thought the approaching figure was nanogenes. But, the figure also brought back the wave of fear she had felt came back in full force. She could hear now, and the doctors around her panicked.

"Her heart is speeding up again! It won't be able to handle the stress!"said one Doctor, stricken as she touched the side of her face. Her dark eyes looked to her, and Rose felt the worry and pain the Doctor felt at the fact that she was losing her.

"Doctor Jones, we're losing her!" screamed a nurse.

"Sedate her!"snapped the Doctor, making soothing motions on her face.

"What the hell is happening to her?!" she heard her mother's voice sounded out.

"Come on Rose Tyler, your stronger than this!"said the woman, dark eyes fierce. The misty figure of gold touched Rose's hand, and the woman Doctor Jones, the nurses, the other doctors, Mickey, Pete, and her mother's wailing voice faded away into nothing but shadows and warmth.

_**~BW~DW~BW~DW~BW~**_

Her pain was gone, and Rose felt herself breathe steadily again. She saw nothing but the muted glow of the TARDIS' console room around her. She took another steady breathe, and she knew that she was dead. After the agony of her last moments, and with a sweet wind that smelled of apple grass, and breathed across her skin from who knows where, Rose felt a relief enter her. Her only regrets were the fact that she had left her family alone, and that she had never seen the Doctor again. But after every waking moment of fighting against the weight of Pete's world, Rose Tyler, the valiant child and the Bad Wolf felt peace for the first time in a long time.

"_My Wolf._"sang someone, and Rose turned towards the voice.

The figure of golden light nearly blinded her. She could not see the features of the woman, only the outline of her form against the golden light. Rose felt nothing but warmth, and peace at the figure's presence. It filed her every pore and reached her every nerve. She knew this woman, but for the life of her(or death of her?), she could not remember who she was.

"Who are you?"she asked.

She felt a happy hum course through her.

"_I am the one whose's heart you have looked into._"

Rose stared. No bleeding way.

"TARDIS?"she asked, and she felt another happy hum of the song enter her as the figure reached out to clasp her hand.

"_Oh, my dear, dear Bad Wolf, how you have fought for the sake of seeing my Thief again._"she whispered, her other hand reaching to touch her face.

Rose felt the heat of the tears before they fell, and she smiled tiredly, with a little bitterness entering her.

"If your Thief is my Doctor, then I'm sorry to say that I fought for nothing."

The TARDIS hummed softly in that singing speech of her's, and tightened her grip on Rose's hand.

"_Do not speak so early my Wolf. I can still fix this... You will only have to trust me._"said the TARDIS, eagerly, with much urgency. She sounded so hopeful, and so happy that Rose dared hope herself.

"But I already trust you."

The TARDIS laughed. And it was one of the most beautiful things that Rose had ever heard.

"_Then go to him... Go to my Thief and I, and fix the mess that got us to this point in the first place... Be warned that not everyone can be saved my noble, Bad Wolf... But you will see this in time_." sang out the TARDIS. She leaned down and kissed her forehead, softly in a motherly gesture.

Rose felt nothing but warmth, and then she felt nothing at all.


	3. Rose

**Rose**

Rose Tyler woke up with a loud groan, a sharp pain in her head and a sort of strange numbness in her body. Almost as if she had recently been hit in the head with a sledge hammer, and as if she had taken a dip in a frozen lake only to be thrown in the next moment into a lukewarm bath. She gingerly sat herself up, her head pounding, and her heart throbbing. The concrete ground felt smooth and cool beneath her, and she sighed as she steadied herself, trying to shake off the odd sensation. She must have slammed her head against the _very_ concrete walkway when she had felt the pain of the seizure like thing that had overtaken her...

It had caused a helluva dream she thought with a wistful sigh. It had been wonderful to be able to see the TARDIS again. But it also had been horrible she thought, rubbing away the tears that threatened to fall. But it had just been a strange hallucination, nothing more. Checking quickly for blood or any external injury, she was rather relieved to see that there was none. She might have a concussion, though and she made a mental note to tell Pete to take her to hospital if she had any symptoms. She then turned and looked around her for the dead alien, her heart heavy with the implication of what he had said. When she didn't see his body or the sewer walls, Rose was confused.

When she saw nothing but the silhouettes of people around her in the dark she became concerned, and even more confused when she noticed it smelled nothing like a sewer. That was when Rose caught sight of her clothes, faint as she cold see them in the low light. She was in jeans, and while that wasn't strange in itself, she hadn't worn jeans with such wide bottoms since she had landed in Pete's World, skinny was the fashion there and she had grown attached. Add to the fact that she was wearing a pastel pink sweater, with thin little tank top and she dimly knew that something might be wrong. A bag was slung across her shoulders, one that she hadn't seen in nearly two years, and Rose felt large hoop earrings weighing down her ears.

She had lost said earrings a while back, when an they had needed something to complete a circuit in some device to prevent the world from falling away from sun's gravity. She had never really had had the heart to replace them, besides, most, if not all, of the metal from Pete's word tended to irritate her skin. Clutched in her hand was a large zip-lock bag, and it looked as if it had cash.

"What!?"she muttered, fingering the hoop on her left ear. She was beyond confused at the moment.

When Rose heard a rustle of movement, she immediately jumped to her feet, and lifted her arms in a defensive way, dropping the bag of cash, her feet clumsily following, and her spine alined slightly wrong in her stance. Even her fists were positioned wrong and she quickly removed her thumb from inside her clenched fingers.

Rose stared at her hands as if they had betrayed her.

She hadn't made a rookie mistake like that since she had joined her father's Torchwood and learned to throw a decent punch instead of a slap. But her body had moved on instinct, following her mind's direction in a way that did not come with her months of training. It was then that Rose knew that something really was wrong in the back of her mind.

But when the lights suddenly turned on, and the sight of countless store dummies met her eyes, all Rose could really do was gape in surprise. Mickey was playing a really daft, cruel joke she thought faintly as they started to move towards her. A really cruel joke. They approached with stiff movements and she very nearly shrieked. She noted with certainty that she was in shock, because she wasn't really the shrieking type anymore.

"Mickey stop! This is cruel and you know it!"she called out, backing away carefully. She didn't notice how close to the wall she was, and swore when she felt a pipes of the wall against her back.

For a wild moment, Rose could only stare as what she suddenly knew were Autons coming at her in a mock replay of the instance were she had first met the Doctor. Then she readied herself, thinking that she was going bloody _murder _her childhood friend in several and most gruesome ways she knew were possible for this. She ignored the warm heat that stung her eyes, because at the moment, even if these things were meant to scare and remind her, she was not going to start blubbering. She could have a good cry about the Doctor after she dealt with Mickey.

When the nearest Auton moved to strike her, Rose automatically placed one of her hands down and behind her back while she widen her stance, bringing one arm up to block the blow. She hadn't expected for someone to grasp her lowered hand in gentle, familiar hold. No, she hadn't expected at all for the slightly cool, caroused hand that she knew so well... She looked up wildly, not quite believing what her mind told her as those damned piercing blue eyes met her hazel ones.

For a singular moment, it was if she could feel what he felt. For one moment, all that had happened to her as the Bad Wolf rushed back, and she felt the world whirling beneath her feet. She felt the Earth spinning around the sun at a speed that took her breathe away. She could feel everything that was and could be, she could feel the heart of the TARDIS pulse within her... She was falling with him, just for that second and it was all she could do was stare into his eyes and allow the sensation to wash over her. And then it was gone, and with it the memories of what being the Bad Wolf meant.

And he tightened his grip on her hand, the intensity of his eyes growing as the next second pasted. Like before he said one word. Just one word... He said...

"Run."

He then proceeded to pull her away from the Auton just as it struck downwards, and Rose wanted to hit herself for forgetting that they could be so strong as it broke the pipe in place of breaking her arm. Rose then ran with the Doctor, more readily than she had last time, her mind whirling and running at break neck speed. This could_ not _be happening she thought. But it was, and her first Doctor hurried her along into the service lift.

When the lead Auton reached for them, and the Doctor tried to tug its arm off, Rose, as if on autopilot reached over to help him, and with their combined strength the arm popped off without nearly as much struggle as she remembered. The doors closed, and Rose felt her chest heave with the effort of the light run. It was as if she was nineteen again, and her body was already winded. It was somewhat ridiculous that she had been so unfit, even in a dream!

"Thanks."said the Doctor, examining the arm with care with the interest of schoolboy. Rose stared.

"You're welcome."she said, and even to herself she sounded both dazed and uncertain. The Doctor looked up from the arm and gave her a measuring look that lasted for fifteen seconds(she had counted) before he threw the arm at her, and turned away to rummage into his leather jacket. She caught it with ease, and nearly dropped it as she remembered that it had almost crushed her face in real life.

Rose's first thought then as she looked at the Doctor was that she had missed that daft jacket. The next was that his ears weren't nearly as big as she remembered them to be. The last thought she had was that she was going completely mad, and this was all just one enormous, rather cruel dream. Mickey couldn't have possibly been this mean, her subconscious however, was. She was such a glutton for punishment when it came to the Doctor, and this was not the first of her dreams of him. It was however, the first to be so vivid, or this far back.

"I... Those weren't a clever trick were they?"she asked, hoping for another moment that this was still a cruel joke. It was too painful to think about if it wasn't, she really hated her mind sometimes.

He was just a foot or so away, and it took all her will power not to launch herself at him. Instead she took the time to take him in, from his stupid leather jacket to his noticeably non-conversed feet. She had missed this version of him she thought, not nearly as much as the next, but she had missed him. This personality had been her lure into his mad life. And it was in this version that she had begun to fall in love with, the next had only cemented the fact that she had fallen so madly in love.

She started to cry, the warmth wetness of her tears were on the very edge of her lashes, but she held back the silly tears with sheer willpower. Even in a dream, she couldn't show him how much she had died inside since she had become stuck in Pete's world. Even if he didn't know her in this dream, she had to be strong.

"No, they weren't."he said pleasantly, still rummaging in his jacket. She wondered absently if he was building the bomb in there or looking for it.

When he stopped rummaging, and crossed his arms, and smiled pleasantly at her she felt a flash of warmth. Even if this was a horrible dream of her reliving her memories, it was, to quote the current man across from her, _fantastic_. But then she remembered what had brought her to the basement in the first place back then, and she felt a flash of guilt.

"Is Wilson, the chief electrician dead?" she asked. She was proud that her voice only shook slightly.

"Yes, yes he is. What made you think that?"asked the Doctor, looking at her curiously.

She shrugged, feeling a faint sorrow for the man, remembering that he had been really kind to her when she had first come to work at Henricks, even if she had been an estate girl. She tried to ignore the fact that she was so used to the idea of death and great harm that she could push it off. Besides, Wilson had been dead for nearly three years.

"Well those dummies seemed to be trying to kill me, and Wilson was down there as well."she told the Doctor.

He hummed absently in response, and took out his sonic. The lift doors opened, and he got out, Rose right at his heels.

"Mind your eyes."he said, and Rose only jumped slightly as the he caused a small explosion of sparks on the lift's controls. At least the Autons wouldn't come up.

"What are those things down there?"she asked, feeling that was an appropriate thing to ask. Even if she already knew, and this was all a memory dream, she thought that any form of the Doctor would appreciate the excuse to lecture.

She followed him as he made for the back exit.

"They're made of plastic. Living plastic creatures. They're being controlled by a relay device in the roof, which would be a great big problem if I didn't have this."he said taking out the bomb, and Rose wondered if his pockets were like the TARDIS in the fact that they were bigger on the outside.

He pushed her gently out of the store, a grin firmly in place.

"So, I'm going to go up there and blow them up, and I might well die in the process, but don't worry about me. No, you go home. Go on. Go and have your lovely beans on toast. Don't tell anyone about this, because if you do, you'll get them killed."he said, and he shut the door behind him.

Rose stared, thinking that even in her dreams that the Doctor was an absent minded man. When the door opened she wasn't as nearly surprised as she had been in her memory.

"I'm the Doctor by the way, what's your name?" he said, grinning wider.

"Rose."she said, softly, noting that her voice sounded really faint.

"Nice to meet you Rose. Now run for your life!"he shouted excitedly, turning around and shutting the door behind him. Rose stared at it for a fraction of second, before she turned and did just that.

She really had no interest in being anywhere near an explosion, even in a dream. The last one she been caught up in had nearly made her deaf, and she had been knocked about, and fairly high when she had been thrown back by the shock wave. Mickey and her father had never let her live it down when she had ended up stuck on the roof of Torchwood, hanging by the back of her jacket and not being able to understand what they had been screaming at her.

Ignoring the honking cab as she crossed the street, she turned just in time to watch her last normal job explode. Before, she had felt nothing but shock at the whole affair, but now she could appreciate the fact that she had been free from that place. Besides, explosions were pretty in a strange way. Staring at it a little longer, she then turned to walk 'home'. She ran, really, and in the process she nearly did so into the TARDIS.

"Oh my God."she said when she felt its song like presence in her mind. It hummed happily in greeting, a soft song that filled every single of her pores with warmth, shooting through every nerve like a gentle wildfire.

_It wasn't a dream._

It couldn't be, not even in the best of her dreams could she imagine up the TARDIS's in her mind again. Not like this. Not as if the empty part of her mind that had been created the second she had gotten stuck in Pete's world was filled so completely just by being near her. Not as if she was finally okay after a near year of sheer agony. Before, when she had talked to the TARDIS for a brief moment in that state after the hospital, Rose had felt her only faintly in her mind, as if she had a weak, remote signal, now, with the TARDIS right next to her she felt her loud and clear.

She was home. The tears she had felt gathering so many times in her eyes before fall freely now. She reached out tentatively, half of her still not believing what she felt. But when she touched the soft, worn wood, she knew.

Rose Tyler had died, truly, and utterly died, the Valiant child had finally lost her fight against the rejection of another universe.(And bollocks it had hurt.)

But the TARDIS, the Doctor's dear TARDIS, had not been able to take that standing down, and had brought her back to the point in which she could save herself.

"Oh you daft, crazy girl! You sent me back!"she said hugging the Police box's frame happily, she dropped the Auton's arm without a care. It hummed merrily in response, half of it sounded tired.

Dead tired really, as if she could barely think. It must of taken a lot to bring her her to this point she thought. It hummed urgently, and Rose knew she couldn't linger.

"Thank you, thank you crazy old thing. Thank you!"she whispered, kissing the wooden box gently. With another whispered thanks, Rose picked up the arm and ran off.

**~BW~DW~BW~DW~BW~**

Rose felt as if she was on cloud nine. She could not really describe it as any other thing, and she danced as she went up the stairs of the old flat at the Powell Estate, and she sang as she danced. Her voice was loud and her dance was a little on the mad side, but at the moment she could really give a rat's arse at the stares that followed her. She was back! She was back and the Doctor and the TARDIS were so close that she could almost feel them there, at the back of her mind. She was home!

But she also knew that she had to think clearly, and past her current euphoria. Being in the past could cause many things, not all good. The TARDIS had risked many things, sending her back, in whatever form she had come. She froze outside of the old flat door, her key in one hand.

Physically, she knew by looking down at herself, that she was not the twenty two year old Rose Tyler. She was nineteen again, and as much as that was every woman's dream, she felt herself missing her twenty-two year old body. It had certainly been much stronger than this, more active. Her body wasn't trained to defend itself, despite that she knew what to do mentally. But she had all of her memories of the past three years, and that in itself brought out a whole knew set of problems.

Rose would have to chose what to change, and what to keep constant in the events that had happened from today to the Battle at Canary Wharf(the mere thought of that place made her flinch slightly, never mind the fact that she had worked there for a near year). And if traveling with the Doctor had taught her anything, crossing into your own personal time-line was a dangerous endeavor.

She was lucky in the aspect that she was in no danger of paradoxes, after all, she could not cross paths with her older body. Even if the place she was in would ultimately end in the same way,(something that Rose knew neither she or the TARDIS would allow) Rose Tyler of twenty two was surly dead and buried.

When she opened her old apartment door, trying to get past the fact that she had died, she did not expect the person on the other side of the door. She should have, really, she should have, but she had been so caught up in the Doctor that she had not seen this coming.

"Mum."

Jackie Tyler, younger than she had last seen her, her belly no longer round with child, looked up with a tear streaked face.

"ROSE!"she cried. When she came to hug her tightly 'round the neck, Rose found herself laughing.

"What's the fuss?"she asked. Her mother pulled back then, her mouth pinched in the way she found so familiar, and slapped her upside the head.

"OI!"

"You could have been killed! It's all over the news, Hendrik's blown up and me not knowing where you were! Didn't even have the decency to call!"cried her mother, slapping her again before she went back to hugging her.

Rose felt a hot flash of guilt. Part of it was for not calling her mum. She had done so the first time around. Another part of it was over the last words she had told the mother she had left behind in Pete's world. She had been incredibly cruel. But, as she hugged her mother back, she knew that she hadn't lied.

"I'm so sorry mum."she said, honestly, though she could not say, even to herself, which of her mothers she was talking to.

After a minute or two of fussing, her mother proceed to rant. Rose only numbly sat down, turned on the telly halfheartedly, and accepted the offered tea with much happiness. When the news station began to go on about Hendrik's again, and her mother started answering the phone left and right. Rose didn't know whether to be amused or annoyed at the fact that her mother hadn't really changed from this point until the point where she had left her. She settled for a mixture of the two.

"I know. It's on the telly. It's everywhere. She's lucky to be alive. Honestly, it's aged her. Skin like an old bible. Walking in now you'd think I was her daughter. Oh, and here's himself."said her mother, sounding half pleased and half annoyed as Mickey entered.

Rose herself could only really hold back a curse at the implications of his arrival, and she nearly spilled her wonderful tea via a spit take. This Mickey had only eaten with her this afternoon, danced and kissed in the sunlight by a fountain. He was in the middle of a relationship with her! The Mickey whom she had finally began to have a normal platonic relationship was gone, and the man-child (who she loved to death)before her was not the competent brother-at-arms that had had her back. Her life, which had been fairly simple until her death(odd thought) just had gotten that more complicated. She wanted to run and hide.

"I've been phoning your mobile. You could've been dead. It's on the news and everything. I can't believe that your shop went up!"cried Mickey, sitting next to her, grasping her hand tightly in his own. She tried not to cringe at the fact that his hand felt nothing but wrong to her now.

"Don't make a fuss, I'm fine."she said quietly, watching him keenly as she slipped her hand as gently as she could away from him. She sipped her tea to try and get her nerves out of the way.

"Well, what happened?"he demand.

Rose cringed at his worried tone.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

"What was it though? What caused it?"he said with urgently, looking at her with more than a little worry in his dark eyes.

Rose sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. Her life was going to be a broken record for a while she thought, pushing back the feelings of deja vu.

"Look, I wasn't inside the shop when it happened. I didn't see a thing."technically, she hadn't been inside the shop when the explosion had occurred, nor had she actually seen where the Doctor had placed the bomb.

Mickey and her mum couldn't really call her out a lie that wasn't a lie. Or at least, that logic had worked out last time.

"It's Debbie on the end. She knows a man on the Mirror. Five hundred quid for an interview."said her mother, coming up to her smiling.

"Oh that's brilliant! Give it here."

She then proceed to hang up the phone, rolling her eyes as her mother made an annoyed nose in the back of her throat.

"Well, you've got to find some way of making money. Your job's kaput and I'm not bailing you out." she snapped.

Rose only sighed at her mother's words. She hadn't had a proper job in nearly three years. Her work at Torchwood had come at no pay because of her father's instance, after all he had been one of the most wealthy people in Britain, and they didn't need the money. When her mum answered the phone again and walked off, she knew it was time to tell Mickey something. She had been terribly unfair to him the first time around, and as a respect to the man that he would become, she needed to end things. She wouldn't dare lead him on again. That had caused heartache on both their parts, mostly his, and they had been funny around each other until recently.

"What're you drinking, tea? Nah, nah, that's no good, that's no good. You're in shock. You need something stronger."he said, sounding amused as he took away her mug, and she frowned. She hadn't had a proper tea like that in year!

"Mickey..."she said, reaching for the cup. He held it out of her reach.

"Now, come on, you deserve a proper drink. We're going down the pub, you and me. My treat. How about it?"

Last time she hadn't gone. But then again, she hadn't needed to break up with him neither. She looked into his dark eyes for a second, and sighed.

"Can we talk outside?"she asked.

Mickey, not understanding the implications of her words, readily helped her up, and she nabbed the Auton arm to throw it away. She walked with him, answering in monosyllables when she he asked her something. When they reached the trash can, she threw it as hard as she could in there, knowing that in a few hours time it would try to kill her, or at least the Doctor and her by proxy.

"Rose what's wrong?"

Rose frowned at his cheerful voice and she turned to look him square in the eyes. He deserved that much.

"Mickey, what if I told you that something in that shop explosion made me think?"she asked. He only stared at her.

"About what?"

"Everything. My life, my... My boyfriend."she said.

Mickey looked at her blankly, and she wanted to both slap him silly for being so thick and hug him for being so thick.

"What do you mean?"he asked finally, his voice soft. She tried not to cringe at the worry she heard there.

"I want to cut it off."she said simply, knowing that honesty in this case would be the best way to show it.

Mickey's face twisted.

"What?"he asked, alarmed.

She sighed, and not being able to bare looking at him, looked away.

"I'm breaking up with you."she said simply.

"What?! But I've been good to you! Better than..."he trailed off then, his mouth pinching in an unpleasant way. Rose stared and nearly laughed when she remembered who he was mentioning.

She hadn't thought about Jimmy Stone in years. And she wasn't going to start now, she had moved on. Dying slowly in another universe as it rejected you, being torn apart from the man that she would always love, and feeling eternity inside of you(even if she couldn't remember it exactly) tended to shift your thought process, and concerns.

"You have Mickey, you really have, but I just can't see you that way after what happened today."she said softly. It was an honest enough answer.

Mickey stared, his face twisting. Her heart went out to him, and she wished she could have made this easier.

"Fine."he spat, face intense. He didn't say another word, and he turned sharply towards the pub and left.

Rose wished to offer him something other than that, but she knew that she couldn't tell him anything else. It wouldn't be fair.

_**~BW~DW~BW~DW~BW~**_

It was fairly odd to wake up in her mum's old flat. But, as Rose ignored her mother's rants about getting a job or compensation, she waited patiently for the old cat flap to rattle. When it did, she jumped up, and crouched down. She pushed it opened, and was greeted by the Doctor's face. She very nearly grinned. Instead she narrowed her eyes. She stood straight up and opened the door. Looking vaguely bemused, the Doctor raised a single brow.

"What are you doing here?"he asked.

"I live here."she replied, raising a brow of her own.

"Well, what do you do that for?"

Rose rolled her eyes and snagged the lapel of his leather jacket and dragged him inside. She slammed the door of the flat.

"What are you doing here Doctor?"she asked.

He shrugged and gave her a measuring look.

"I must have got the wrong signal. You're not plastic, are you?" he tapped her head for good measure and Rose scowled.

"No, bonehead. Bye, then." he said, sounding almost disappointed as he made for the door. Rose lunged for his hand and pulled him back.

He was not getting out of her sights just yet. He frowned at her and she frowned right back.

"Who is it?"called out her mother, peaking outside her bedroom.

"It's about last night. He's part of the inquiry. Give us ten minutes." Rose retold her lie easily, dismissing her mother as she gave the Doctor the eye.

"She deserves compensation." said her mother firmly.

Rose nearly snorted as she tried to tug the Doctor out of her mother's sight.

"Oh, we're talking millions."he said with a grin. Rose nearly smacked him.

"I'm in my dressing gown."said her mother suddenly, eyes brightening. Rose blinked at her tone.

_No way._

"Yes, you are."said the Doctor, blissfully unaware to what this was going.

"There's a strange man in my flat."said her mother slyly, actually twirling her hair.

Rose very nearly gagged. Or laughed. She wasn't quite sure what was rising in her throat at the fact that her mother had initially flirted with the Doctor upon their first meeting.

"Yes, there is."said the Doctor not getting it.

"Well, anything could happen."said her mother, moving her dressing gown down her shoulder slightly. Rose really wanted to laugh now, though she was dimly insulted that her mother did this without a care that she was still there.

The Doctor gave her mother a look, and looked like he wished to laugh as well.

"No."

Rose rolled her eyes and dragged him away. No indeed! She pushed him into the living room, and simply took him in for a moment. The Doctor looked around the flat himself, curious and no doubt looking for the Auton that gave off the signal. She frowned.

"Did you pinpoint the signal of more living plastic here?"she asked, curiously. She knew that the arm was in the general area, but it hadn't been in the house until a few moments ago.

"They're called Autons, and yes... The question is why... Wait a tick, me! Yes me, it went after you by proxy."he mumbled, and he caught his reflection a mirror.

"Ah... Could've been worse. Look at those ears!"he said, tugging at said ears.

He glinted away from the mirror, picking at the random things in her mum's flat. He mumbled a few things here and there, and she found herself sighing. Same old ADHD Doctor.

"Doctor..."she said this in a amused, yet frustrated growl. She hardly noticed the rattle of the cat flap.

"Rose Tyler!"he said suddenly, eyes wide as he looked behind her. She turned, and was utterly surprised, even though she shouldn't have been when the damn Auton arm went for her face.

She flew back, and when her back slammed into the glass table, she swore internally as she tried to get the damn arm off, she was careful not roll around in the glass. Why had it attacked her first?! She clearly wasn't the Doctor... She really should have been paying attention, and she noticed with some embarrassment that the Doctor was straddling her as he tried to pry the arm off. In any other situation she would have found it comical or pleasant. At the moment it was distracting...

But, well, as the Doctor got it off with a happy yell she was vaguely amused as it went for his neck, and he flew back and crash into the couch, trying in vain to get the arm off of him. She reached into his pockets as he tried to get the thing off, and she reached around the spacious thing until she felt the sonic screwdriver. She pulled it out, and watching his miming to stab while still trying to get the thing off. She stabbed the arm with a violent huff, and it fell limp.

"Well. You've stopped it.. There, its Armless."he said with a grin.

Rose snorted, picking up the arm and whacking him in the shoulder as she did.. The joke had been lame the first time around.

"Ow!"

The Doctor gave her a annoyed look, and then jumped to his feet, running off. She got up and ran after him. Just like old times she thought as she caught his hand.

"You can't go swanning off." she said in frustration as he continued down the stairs, ignoring her even as she clung at his hand. She threw the arm at him and was frustrated when he caught it without looking back at her.

"Yes I can. Here I am. This is me, swanning off. See you."

"If it went after me once because of you, what makes you think it won't try again?"she snapped. They were outside the building, and she saw the TARDIS in the distance. It hummed weakly in greeting.

"The further you get away from me Rose Tyler the better off you are."he said, and he snatched his hand away from her's.

She stared after him, her heart aching. She was nothing but a stranger caught in the midst of his usual madness, and he was treating her as such. It hurt.

"I just want to understand all of this. And you, I want to understand you. Can't you at least give me that?"she asked, and he turned sharply.

He stared at her for an incredible amount of time, and then he gently put his calloused hand back in her's. It was a curiously gentle movement, as if he was reaching for a scared animal. In a sense, she had been the first time around if she was honest.

"Do you know like we were saying about the Earth revolving? It's like when you were a kid. The first time they tell you the world's turning and you just can't quite believe it because everything looks like it's standing still. I can feel it. The turn of the Earth. The ground beneath our feet is spinning at a thousand miles an hour, and the entire planet is hurtling round the sun at sixty seven thousand miles an hour, and I can feel it. We're falling through space, you and me, clinging to the skin of this tiny little world, and if we let go... That's who I am. Now, forget me, Rose Tyler. Go home."he said, and again she felt the fall with him, until he let go of her hand abruptly.

She opened her mouth, tempted to tell him everything that would happen to them, how they would travel across the stars and time, and how she had died. She wanted to tell him so badly. Wanted to show him all she had gone through for his sake, for the sake of being with him again. Anything so he could hold her hand again... But Rose snapped her mouth shut. That wasn't fair to the Doctor in front of her. He was still her Doctor, the man she loved, she could see him clearly in the man before her as he turned his back to her and walked away towards the TARDIS.

But he had his own life to live, she would use her knowledge of the future to save herself, but not to make him feel anything for her. She couldn't destroy his choices like that. She hugged herself, painfully gripping her sides as he disappeared into the TARDIS. Time travel was tricky business, and the strange mental travel that the TARDIS had done to her was no exception. Time lines must be preserved, and not even a Time Lord should have so much insight into his own future, not like the way she so desperately wanted to show him. She was going to watch her life with the Doctor pass, and she wouldn't speak a word to the Doctor of what the TARDIS had done.

She promised herself, and him right then and there as the TARDIS disappeared in that familiar noise, that the truth of her presence in the past would not be revealed until after the Battle of Canary Wharf. She pushed away the pain that thought brought.

It was what must be done.

_**~BW~DW~BW~DW~BW~**_

"Rose! Babe, sugar, babe, sugar"called out Mickey's voice. She turned around in surprise, staring at the shinny material of Mickey's skin a few hours after the Doctor's departure.

She had sat on the ground outside her mum's flat, trying to get her plan together for the next two years or so. Mainly she found herself trying to remember all the finer details of their misadventures. She made a mental note to write it down somewhere (out of the Doctor's reach of course).

"Oh Bugger."she muttered, and allowed the faux Mickey to place a sloppy kiss. She had forgotten about this.

"Hungry? Hungry?"he sang, tugging her along. She turned back to where the Doctor had disappeared in the TARDIS, and had half a mind to just snap the plastic Mickey's head off and run off to find him.

But, knowing it might melt and then get Mickey killed, she allowed it to drag her off. They went to the same pizza restaurant as before, and she nearly laughed as she caught a glimpse of the Doctor sneaking into the kitchens. Probably for the champagne.

"So Babe, sugar, sweetheart, how did you meet this Doctor?"he asked, his head glitching. Rose winced and shrugged.

Never mind the fact that she hadn't mentioned the Doctor to anyone. The Nestene Consciousness should really gather its data more carefully...

"Oh, you know, how you always met interesting people."she said, watching with some vague amusement as the thing glitched again and went for her hand. She had enough sense this time around to keep it away from touching her.

"Champagne?"asked the Doctor, and it took all of her will power not to look away from plastic Mickey.

"We didn't order any champagne. Where's the Doctor?"snapped plastic Mickey, reaching for her again.

She cringed, narrowing her eyes. She slowly gripped a butter knife in her hand, planning on chucking it at him if anything went wrong.

"I'm not going on about him."

"Madam, your Champagne?"

"It's not ours."she replied, holding back her amusement and inching away slowly from plastic Mickey. She prepared for what was next, clenching her fist around the knife.

"Doesn't anybody want this champagne?"said the Doctor, he sounded genuinely frustrated.

"Look, we didn't order it."began plastic Mickey, a frown on his face until he looked up.

Rose did so as well, and grinned at the sight of the Doctor.

"Ah. Gotcha."said plastic Mickey, his grin all rubber.

The Doctor started shaking the bottle vigorously, a smile on his face as well.

"Don't mind me. I'm just toasting the happy couple. On the house!"he cried with triumph.

The Doctor released the cage around the cork and it flew into plastic Mickey's forehead. After a few moments, he spits it out, looking as if it was the most normal thing in the world.

"Anyway."started plastic Mickey, moving to stand up.

Rose reacted on instinct, and before she could think she threw the knife, and her right leg shot out at the same time and slammed into the round table in front of her. The thing shot upwards and into plastic Mickey's chin, the knife in his left shoulder, pushing him to the ground, and she got up to pull the Doctor of his way the second he started swinging his plastic paddle hands as he lunged at them. When plastic Mickey glitched again, she ran to the fire alarm and got all of the people out, just as the Doctor snapped off plastic Mickey's head.

"Nice kick. A butter knife though?"said the Doctor, looking down at the head in interest.

"Thanks. I didn't have any other choice, my ex-boyfriend shows up, acts like he still is my boyfriend and is all shiny and plastic-like, like those store dummies and... Well, it was the first thing I could find..."she muttered, wincing. She shouldn't have kicked that high, her nineteen year old body was not used to movement like that yet.

"Don't think this will stop me."said plastic Mickey, still smiling in the Doctor's hand. It looked more as if he was baring his teeth at them.

His body began to flail, and Rose quickly ran to the Doctor, tugging his arm.

"I think it would be best to swan off... Now."she said staring as the plastic monster approached.

"Oh I like the way you think Rose Tyler!"said the Doctor, and he placed his hand in her's, dragging her outside of the restaurant and sealing the metal door with his sonic.

He then proceeded to drag her off, running at full speed to the TARDIS. She hummed happily at their approach, and Rose had to restrain herself from greeting the old girl out loud. She watched as the metal door dented under plastic Mickey, and looked as the Doctor rushed inside. She held back, and reminded herself to play the confused human.

"Shouldn't we keep running?"she asked, approaching the TARDIS door carefully.

"Nah!You should come in here!"called out the Doctor's voice, and she sighed, rushing into the TARDIS.

She felt a shot of warmth as she shut the door behind her, and she let out the breathe she hadn't realized she had been holding. The familiar coral design of the control room warmed her heart, and it was a sight for sore eyes after a near year of it being gone. It was good to be home she thought, and with that thought the TARDIS sent her a shot of her song, and to her it seemed as if she was agreeing with her.

"It's bigger on the inside..."she muttered, not really noticing what she was saying.

"Correct. Now don't worry your yellow head, The assembled hoards of Genghis Khan couldn't get through that door, and believe me, they've tried. Now, shut up a minute."he said, and Rose her eyes at the fact that she hadn't really said anything.

She watched with mild amusement as he played around with the plastic Mickey head.

"You see, the arm was too simple, but the head's perfect. I can use it to trace the signal back to the original source. Right. Where do you want to start?"he said, plugging in a protesting and biting head.

She sighed and said her next words with care.

"It's bigger on the inside, it's alien, and since you seem to own it I assuming that you're an alien as well?"

The Doctor raised a brow, and he looked up at her.

"Ten out of ten for observation. It's called the TARDIS. T-A-R-D-I-S. That's Time And Relative Dimension In Space. Is that alright, me being an alien and all?"he asked.

"Yeah... This plastic Mickey is just a decoy so the Auton things could find you, right?"

"Right!"he said, sounding pleased.

"Well he's melting."

The Doctor looked at her strangely before he looked back at the melting Mickey head. He looked back at her, smiling pleasantly before he did a double take. When he scrambled to keep the head from melting, she let out a strangle laugh as he panicked. She really was back, and her silly, sometimes daft Doctor was in front of her. She watched him, walking slowly towards the control counsel. She touched it gently, humming to the TARDIS pleasantry as she hummed back.

"Oh she likes you. That's new."he muttered as he stuck a needle in the nearly goop head of plastic Mickey.

She hummed back and peeked curiously at the head.

"Following the signal. It's fading. Wait a minute, I've got it. No, no, no, no, no, no, no! Almost there. Almost there. Here we go!"

The TARDIS landed with a slight jolt, and Rose caught herself just in time from falling over. The Doctor rushed outside, and she followed. She really did do a lot of running with the Doctor... Except for that one time they had hopped. Hopping for their lives had been interesting...

"I lost the signal, I got so close."he muttered in frustration, running his hand over his scalp.

"We've moved. Does it fly? Or does it disappear and reappear?"she asked, trying her best to look curious as she gave a sly glance to the London Eye.

It was _always_ the monuments.

"The latter... You wouldn't understand."he said, looking around.

"So, your an alien... Do a lot of planets have a North if you have that accent then?"she asked amused. He looked at her strangely and nodded.

"And why the police call box?"she asked, glancing at it. She had never gotten around to asking.

"Got stuck in the Sixties a while, and the disguise setting got stuck. I kinda of like it."he said thoughtfully, patting the side of the TARDIS with affection.

"Ah, well I have to ask, is Mickey dead? ... You know the head of the kid you tore off?"she asked. She knew that he was fine, but it was something someone would ask. She had before after all.

"Oh. Didn't think of that..."he mummered, and Rose rolled her eyes.

"Too busy saving the world?"she asked dryly.

"And every stupid ape on the surface of this planet!"he finished, looking frustrated.

She rolled her eyes. She had forgotten the pre-regeneration Doctor took a stab at species when he was frustrated.

"So what does the living plastic want with Earth? Take over?"she asked, hoping to hurry him along. She was faintly afraid for Mickey, she knew that one little word could change someone's actions greatly, and it was possible that she had majorly screwed up the fact that he lived.

"Completely... You've got such a good planet. Lots of smoke and oil, plenty of toxins and dioxins in the air, perfect. Just what the Nestene Consciousness needs. It's food stock was destroyed in the War, all its protein plants rotted, so Earth, dinner!"he said cheerfully.

Rose winced at the mention of the Time War. She wondered how he could mention it so causally...

"How are we going to stop it?"

"Anti-plastic."he said simply, taking out the small vial and grinning.

"Don't we have to find it first?"she asked, looking directly at the Eye. She couldn't help it really.

"Point... But how can they hide something that big in a city this size? The Consciousness is controlling every single piece of plastic, so it needs a transmitter to boost the signal."he said, and he tugged at his ear. She sighed.

"Would it be like a big radial disc?"she said. Her gaze remained stuck on the Eye, and the other bank.

"Yes! Maybe invisible..."he stopped when he caught her look, and she jerked her head to the Eye.

Just like before he glanced over the Eye, and looked back to her.

"What? What is it? What?"he asked, obviously confused.

Rose laughed, and she jerked her head again. He looked back, and then at her, and then back.

"Oh! Fantastic!"he cried, reaching over for her hand and pulling her along towards the left bank.

It wasn't until they were under the London Eye that he spoke again, searching carefully for the entrance.

"Think of it, plastic all over the world, every artificial thing waiting to come alive. The shop window dummies, the phones, the wires, the cables..."

"The breast implants."she muttered, thinking that it was still rather funny despite everything.

"Still, we've found the transmitter. The Consciousness must be somewhere underneath."

Rose looked over the parapet and sees the large manhole entrance at the bottom of the steps that they had entered last time. She rolls her eyes at him. Despite being the cleverest man in the universe he could be so thick at times.

"What about down here?"she asked dryly, pointing. He looked up from his searching, and grinned.

"Looks good to me."

He opened the manhole with the sonic, and the hellish red light poured over their skin as they started going down the rungs. She shivered faintly, and glanced around for Mickey. She was pleased to find him cowering in the corner. He was alive at least.

"The Nestene Consciousness. That's it, inside the vat. A living plastic creature." said the Doctor softly. She said nothing as he walked over to address it, and she knew that he was giving it a chance.

Same old Doctor.

"I seek audience with the Nestene Consciousness under peaceful contract according to convention 15 of the Shadow Proclamation."he said.

The Nestene Consciousness flexed upwards. Rose stared. She felt the thing give off a faint air of greeting...

"_It is I..._"rasped the Nestene.

_How Ood was that... That's certainly new..._

"Thank you. If I might have permission to approach?"asked the Doctor.

Rose snapped out of her staring and ran over to Mickey, and was half amused as he latched himself to her.

"That thing down there, the liquid. Rose, it can talk!"he cried, his grip growing tighter with every word. Huh, she thought.

That meant that Mickey had stronger mental power than her the first time around if he cold hear that thing... She felt vaguely offended.

"Am I addressing the Consciousness? Thank you. If I might observe, you infiltrated this civilization by means of warp shunt technology. So, may I suggest, with the greatest respect, that you shunt off?"

A sort of face formed in the vat of plastic, and she heard a faint surge of outrage enter the air.

"_My constitutional rights as a refugee..._"it began.

"Oh, don't give me that. It's an invasion, plain and simple. Don't talk about constitutional rights. I am talking!"

The suddenly roaring Nestene silenced when the Doctor raised his voice.

"This planet is just starting. These stupid little people have only just learnt how to walk, but they're capable of so much more. I'm asking you on their behalf. Please, just go."

"Doctor!"hissed Rose, as she watched two shop dummies grab him and snatch the anti-plastic form his pocket.

"_Liar_! _You move against us and attack us with your vast weaponry!_"it screamed, voice low and thundering.

"That was just insurance. I wasn't going to use it. I was not attacking you. I'm here to help. I'm not your enemy. I swear, I'm not. What do you mean?" he said, alarmed.

A door slide back behind her and Mickey, and the TARDIS hummed in a somewhat frustrated greeting.

"_Liar! Look at your ship, your weapon! My world burned! It burned in the Time War and nothing was done for me, why should I listen to you with your big words and weapons?_"

"No. Oh, no. Honestly, no. Yes, that's my ship. That's not true. I should know, I was there. I fought in the war. It wasn't my fault. I couldn't save your world! I couldn't save any of them!"cried the Doctor lifting his hand in surrender.

"_Liar! Murder!Let this world become mine!_"he hissed.

"Doctor?"she asked alarmed.

"It's the TARDIS! The Nestene's identified its superior technology. It's terrified. It's going to the final phase. It's starting the invasion! Get out, Rose! Just leg it now!"said the Doctor.

She didn't bother calling her mum this time around, she knew that it would be useless. Instead she looked around and then reached for the ax.

"It's the end of the world..."she said softly, it was her first. Or, at least it was the first for this body to experience the end of the world. It brought an oddly comforting sensation.

"It's the activation signal. It's transmitting!" cried the Doctor in frustration.

"We're going to die."moaned Mickey, pounding at the TARDIS door, as he had tried to get out that way.

"Run Rose! Just leg it!"

"Leave him! We're going to die!" cried Mickey.

"_TIME LORD!_"

"We're not. Because I sure as hell not going to die again so soon."she said firmly, and she slammed the ax into the chain. It came loose with the first swing, since she knew the right amount of force to use, and she gripped it tightly in her hand, throwing the ax to the side as she gave a running leap.

She swung straight into the dummies, just as she had last time, though this time she kicked both on the first swing by, and let go of the rope as the Doctor caught her around the waist. Her move had knocked the anti-plastic into the Consciousness, and she watched with some regret. It had only been terrified. But between it and the Earth, she knew that it was the Earth that was innocent in the whole scheme. It began to pulsate blue, and she bit her lip guilty as it screamed in agnoy.

"Rose! We're in trouble now!"he said, and he rushed towards the TARDIS, her in tow.

He pushed aside Mickey, and opened the TARDIS doors. Mickey immediately clutched to her as she rushed him inside. How things would change she thought with a wry smile.

_**~BW~DW~BW~DW~BW~**_

The Doctor watched with faint amusement as the boy, whatshisname, Rickey thought, ran out of the TARDIS, and hid behind some pallet. Cowering like the child he really was, he peaked from behind it, and gestured wildly at Rose Tyler as she walked some distance towards him. Her brows were furrowed, and the strange yellow and pink human stopped next to him, grabbing his shoulder and sighing at him as she forced him to stand. This only caused for the human to hide behind her, and clutch at her shoulders. It was as if he was half trying to use her as human shield, and bring her closer to him at the same time.

"Fat lot of good you did."she said seeming put out at the boy, but their was a look in her large eyes that was odd, a certain kind of mischievousness that made him think that she was enjoying a private joke.

That seemed to be the case a lot with this human. She always seemed half amused at some of the things that occurred around her.

"Nestene Consciousness? Easy."he said, leaning against the TARDIS doors.

She looked up and gave him a somewhat dry smile, but a smile nonetheless where her tongue poked out the side of her teeth in a faintly endearing way.

"You were about as helpful as he was...You'd be dead without me, admit it."

Her hazel-green eyes sparkled in the sunlight, and for a second, he tilted his head at the odd golden flecks within her irises. They seemed to almost flash... There was that amused light again. He wondered if she would ever tell him what the big joke was.

"Yes, I would. Thank you. Right then, I'll be off, unless, er, I don't know, you could come with me. This box isn't just a London hopper, you know. It goes anywhere in the universe free of charge."he found himself saying, and he found his hearts pounding in anticipation.

He hadn't honestly expected to ask for a companion, not this soon. He needed time alone, to get his massive head together, but... He didn't know if it was her wit, her startlingly sharp and clever insightful mind, or if it was the way she took action, and was cool as a cucumber when it came to the situations he usually found himself in... Or maybe even the way the time-lines curved and bended around her, as if to embrace her... But there was just something about the odd, yellow and pink human named Rose Tyler that compelled him to ask.

"Don't. He's an alien. He's a thing." said the other human, clutching at her legs as he kneeled in front of her.

He felt himself frown. What a rude ape!

"He's not invited. What do you think? You could stay here, fill your life with work and food and sleep, or you could go anywhere." he said, grinning best he could. He hoped it was somewhat encouraging.

Rose pressed her lips together, seemingly trying to think it over.

"It's always this dangerous isn't it? You do things like save worlds everyday."she said softly, and there was some of that clever insight she possessed.

He couldn't lie.

"Yeah."

She frowned, and she looked to Mickey, who looked at her with imploring eyes.

"Don't. I know you cut things off with me but he's not the answer to what ever you couldn't find in me."said the boy, and he sounded pained. Rose looked at him startled, as if she hadn't expected that.

He frowned himself, _domestics_... He knew that the girl wouldn't come. He could tell by the way she half reached out for the other human. Her expression was imploring, and she looked almost heartbroken.

"Never mind then."he called out, and he failed to see her stricken face as he turned and walked into the TARDIS.

He rushed to the controls, ignoring the feeling of irritation and disappointment as he set the coordinates at random. The TARDIS left the Earth, but he swore as he jolted forward as it came to a complete stop in the void. He slammed into the control console with the movement, and he hissed in pain.

"What?! What do you think you're doing?"he asked sharply, reaching over to smack the control counsel with a hammer.

The TARDIS's song gave a sharp, angry turn, and he swore. She was never this stubborn!

"Stop it! Get going!"he said. But the TARDIS remained stubbornly still.

He stared, and threw himself back into the captain's chair. Golden flecked eyes flashed into his mind, and he felt a faint longing to not be alone... And wondered if he told...

"Go back! I have to tell her about the time travel!"he cried suddenly, launching himself to the panel. He had barely finished his sentence and the TARDIS landed back on Earth.

He groaned from the floor, where he had been thrown. He stood up and smacked the console again with the hammer.

"You really took a liking to her!"he cried. He chucked the hammer aside and then he scrambled to the doors.

He tried to ignore the TARDIS's smug hum in return. He opened the doors, and her golden flecked hazel met his icy blue.

"By the way, did I mention that it also travels in time?"he asked, grinning as she beamed at him. She turned to the boy.

"Find someone Mickey. You're gold, but you aren't what I need or want... Thanks."she whispered, and she kissed him square in the cheek.

"ROSE!"he cried after her as she bolted towards the TARDIS.

She was beaming, a great big smile that flashed in the sun. When she reached him, she clasped his hand in her tiny one, and somehow, the Doctor felt that he wasn't alone.

* * *

**AN: I do not, in any shape or form own Doctor Who. (I think I would die of happiness, and cause some crazy way to bring Rose back) It belongs to BBC, its various writers, and its faces belong to their great thespians.**

**I want to point out that I'm a fairly recent fan of Doctor Who. I've just finished the Doctor-Donna Arc yesterday...( I was fairly annoyed with the whole Doctor Duplicate thing, I mean, I loved it, I couldn't fault the episode, it brought everyone back and it was lovely. But I felt the whole thing was a cop out when it came to glossing over Rose being able to stay, and that the Rose and Doctor relationship deserved something other than that. But, well, I was glad that Rose would turn out happy. Poor real Doctor though...) ****Okay, mini rant over, I'm just new to the series so expect some of the lore to be somewhat butchered up until I get a better feel of the show. **

**I'm not really sure how fast the updates will be either, I'm a fairly slow write(pesky school!) and the whole episode Rose turned out way longer than I thought it would. I had actually been worried it would be too short, ha! But, well, expect it to... Be every few weeks... At best. Maybe a few days if I get inspiration. Months if I get stuck. Just giving you the heads up.**

**Also, I want to point out that I'm American and that my usage of British slang will be... Sporadic. I think I do alright at it, but, I'm not British so I wouldn't really know. And I'm bad at writing accents. Like... Bollocks at it(sorry couldn't help myself). ****Did you think I got the Doctor's and Rose's personalities right? I was rather wary to write this for that reason, because their such good characters on screen... Is what the TARDIS did to save Rose to vague(I write like that sometimes, a habit I'm trying to break****)?**

**Sorry about my syntax and structure as well. Many people have pointed out that I'm horrible at it... ****Other than that, I can't really think of what I should say, so thank you for reading, and double thank you if you review(Please do)!**

**On that note, the Doctor and Rose forever! Happy reading~**

**~Peace,**

**Moon Witch '96**


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